The Green Code is a historic revision of Buffalo’s land use and zoning policies that will promote investment, facilitate job creation, and improve the environment. Work to create a healthy, sustainable, and prosperous community is already underway, spurred by residents in neighborhoods across the city. The Green Code is designed to support these efforts.
The first step in this process is a land use plan that will guide the city’s development over the next 20 years. The second step is a new zoning ordinance – the first in nearly six decades – that will promote investment by making the development process simple, transparent, and in line with the vision we share for our city.
We face some daunting challenges – vacant land, declining population, environmental damage, an economy in transition. But we also have much to build upon – great neighborhoods, beautiful parks, world-class architecture, and, as always, our people.
The goal of the Green Code is nothing less than the economic resurgence, community renewal, and environmental repair of Buffalo. Let’s work together to make this goal a reality.
Buffalo Development Framework: Process
As we recently announced, the draft Development Framework will be released for public review in February 2014. Click here for a breakdown of the process for releasing the public review draft, collecting the public’s feedback, and incorporating that feedback into Buffalo’s new Development Framework.
Buffalo Development Framework: Components
The Green Code is more than just a new zoning ordinance. It will bring together and codify land use strategies from an array of planning initiatives that comprise the Buffalo Development Framework. Click here for an overview of the various components of the Green Code.
The city’s Office of Strategic Planning recently completed an extensive round of working group sessions with community stakeholders as part of the development of the new zoning code. Approximately 400 residents participated in 28 meetings across the city. Participants volunteered an estimated 1,000 man hours reviewing each section of the draft code and provided extensive comments and feedback that will be incorporated into the public draft, which is expected to be completed in the next several weeks.
Mayor Byron W. Brown and the City’s Office of Strategic Planning hosted a meeting at the Independent Living Center of WNY to discuss the Buffalo Green Code and how it meets the needs of city residents with disabilities. Here’s a link to YNN’s coverage of the meeting. Mayor Brown hosted similar meetings in recent weeks at the Richmond-Summer Senior Center, Frank E. Merriweather Jr. Library and the Belle Center.
Chris Hawley of the city’s Office of Strategic Planning presented on the Green Code in Boston, MA last week at BuildingEnergy 13 — the most established, most cross-disciplinary renewable energy and high-performance building conference and trade show in the northeastern United States.A Draft Zoning Ordinance is in the works!
Over the past two years the Mayor’s Office of Strategic Planning, its consultant team, and the community have been diligently working on the Buffalo Green Code. This past June, over 400 residents attended neighborhood open houses, providing significant input for the new Unified Development Ordinance (UDO). Based upon this input and the thousands of comments received prior to these meetings, our consultants have been busy preparing a draft of the UDO, and we are now ready to start reviewing the details. Continue Reading ->
The report, A Preview of Buffalo’s New Zoning, has been released. It provides a sneak preview of the City of Buffalo’s Unified Development Ordinance, which is now being written and will embrace the walkable, mixed-use places that give the city a competitive edge. Download the Report
